AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Royal Philips Electronics NV, the largest maker of lights by sales, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Monday due to a worse performance by its lighting and health care arms, as well a new charge on its long-suffering television business.
The net loss for the October to December period was euro160 million ($211 million), compared with profit of euro465 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose 3.3 percent to euro6.79 billion.
"Our fourth quarter results were impacted by weak European sales, postponement in deliveries of existing orders in our health care sector, and inventory correction actions...in our Lighting business," said Chief executive Frans van Houten, who has issued three profit warnings since assuming the company's top job in April.
He said the outlook for 2012 is clouded due to "uncertainty in the global economy, and Europe in particular."
The company's most recent warning earlier this month took most of the sting out of Monday's mostly weak numbers.
Analysts said the results presented were actually slightly better than the company had indicated two weeks ago, though they were still critical of the company. Philips said it has completed just a third of a euro2 billion share buyback program running from July 2011 to July 2012, and pushed its completion date back a year.
"The decision to slow down the pace of the share buyback is not a sign of confidence," said analyst Victor Bareno of SNS Securities in a note on the earnings. He rates Philips stock a Hold.
Shares fell 2.9 percent to euro15.13 in early Amsterdam trading.
Philips' television business posted a euro272 million loss, worsening from a loss of euro38 million in the same period of 2010. Philips has an agreement to sell a 70 percent stake in the business to Hong-Kong based TPV Technologies Ltd., under which TPV will market and distribute Philips-branded TVs. Van Houten has been trying to ditch the business since April, but a previous deal with TPV had to be renegotiated.
Apart from the television business, Philips' domestic appliances arm, which makes shavers, toothbrushes and coffee machines, posted sales growth of 3 percent and a 12 percent fall in operating earnings before goodwill writedowns, or EBITA, of euro184 million.
Philips' lighting arm had sales growth of 7 percent and the company said that energy-saving LED lights now account for 18 percent of the total. EBITA dropped 79 percent to euro41 million, in part due to costs of re-branding recently acquired businesses.
Health care equipment sales rose 3 percent to euro2.72 billion, while EBITA fell 22 percent to euro409 million.
Philips' sales by geography closely reflected the performance of the global economy late last year: sales fell 6 percent in Europe, rose 4 percent in North America, and grew 10 percent in developing markets. Each counts for about a third of Philips' total.
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